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35-509: The prison is located in the southern part of the city, close to the railway station . It was built in the late 19th century following the Auburn system . Its existence was first attested in October 1901, when King Carol I visited the inmates in their cells, pardoning three of them. It had a ground and an upper floor with 35 small cells fitting up to four prisoners each, and six large rooms with

70-418: A maximum capacity of 130. The cells and the rooms were in separate wings. In the cell wing, the ground floor had sixteen and the upper floor also sixteen, on both sides; in addition, three smaller one-man cells were located on the left side of the upper floor. From the time of its establishment until 1938, the prison held common criminals with sentences of six months to two years. In 1907, peasants arrested during

105-514: A version of a common cat-o'-nine tails whip to be used in the Auburn Prison. Lynds' version of the whip included a "cow-hide handle, eighteen inches long and wound with leather, with six hemp or flax strands that were twelve to fifteen inches long," and "saturated in shoemaker's wax, the weight of which increased the severity of the blows." In 1839 a prisoner died from neglect and over-flogging. The committee of Auburn and other staff members of

140-587: Is included in a restoration and enhancement project, with € 9 million in funding provided by the European Commission through the National Rehabilitation and Resilience Plan . By 2026, the facility will be transformed into the "Prison of Silence" Memorial and Educational Center. This is a partial list of inmates at Sărat Prison; the symbol † indicates those who died there. Auburn system The Auburn system (also known as

175-539: The Auburn Theological Seminary petitioned to bring the issue of the punishments to the State government. "The law stated that six blows on the naked back with the 'cat' or six-stranded whip was the most punishment that could be assigned for any one offense." In 1846 another meeting was congregated to abolish the use of whips. Flagellation could only be used for riots or severe cases. When whipping

210-559: The Danube–Black Sea Canal . After the end of the experiment in “re-education” at Pitești Prison , part of the torturers were brought to Râmnicu Sărat for interrogation. Until 1955, most of the political prisoners there were Iron Guard members, among them Nicolae Petrașcu  [ ro ] . That year, the surviving defendants tried alongside Iuliu Maniu arrived: National Peasants' Party (PNȚ) affiliates Ion Mihalache , Ilie Lazăr , and Victor Rădulescu-Pogoneanu . In 1957, in

245-544: The New York system and Congregate system ) is a penal method of the 19th century in which prisoners worked during the day in groups and were kept in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. The silent system evolved during the 1820s at Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York , as an alternative to and modification of the Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement, which it quickly replaced in

280-530: The article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Alexandru Constant " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If a page was recently created here, it may not be visible yet because of a delay in updating the database; wait a few minutes or try the purge function . Titles on Misplaced Pages are case sensitive except for

315-565: The revolt were taken there for short periods. In 1938, it received Iron Guard members as political prisoners, including the movement’s leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu . In late November, he and thirteen other cadres, the Nicadori and Decemviri death squads , were ordered transferred to Jilava , but strangled on the way, in Tâncăbești . In September 1939, a further thirteen Guardists incarcerated at Râmnicu Sărat were killed in reprisal for

350-478: The 19th century. The goal of this system was to instill good work habits and ideas of industry that were supposed to be rehabilitative. Tourists could visit the prison for a fee, adding to the prison's profits. Adults in the 1840s could visit for twenty-five cents, whereas children could enter for half the adult price. Prisoners were not allowed to speak or look at tourists during these visits. While tourists could watch prisoners as they worked, tourists did not witness

385-537: The Auburn system were striped uniforms , lockstep , and silence. During the 19th century, prisoners had no rights nor any opportunity to live semi-comfortably. The Auburn system established several characteristics that were unique to the world of disciplinary conditions. Silence was the biggest factor among rules for the prisoners. John D. Cray, a deputy warden at the Auburn Prison, and Elam Lynds , agent and keeper, demanded that prisoners be completely silent to take away

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420-465: The United States. Whigs favored this system because it promised to rehabilitate criminals by teaching them personal discipline and respect for work, property, and other people. Most unique about this system, and most important to it, however, was the fact that it was supported by state-funded capitalism and was driven by profit. Soon after its development, New York State adopted this system with

455-631: The aftermath of a hunger strike at Aiud Prison , the strike leaders, among them Ion Diaconescu , were sent to Râmnicu Sărat, followed by more political prisoners: Corneliu Coposu , Alexandru Alexandrini  [ ro ] , Alexandru Constant  [ ro ] , Constantin Pantazi , Ion Petrovici , Petre Tomescu  [ ro ] , and Gheorghe Jienescu  [ ro ] . The majority of survivors agree that food rations were at hunger and extermination levels, never exceeding 500-600 calories per day. A common criminal would leave rations at

490-506: The assassination of Armand Călinescu . It was a military prison during World War II, holding soldiers charged with various offenses, such as desertion, failure to enroll or cowardice. In June 1944, there were 63 military prisoners. Examples of their rations include meat and potato soup, bean soup, cabbage with tomatoes and mămăligă . After the August 1944 coup , the prison reverted to holding common criminals. Political prisoners were held at

525-576: The call the uniforms "'poison.'" In 1821 a new principal keeper, Elam Lynds, was appointed to run the prison. He believed in the disciplinary power of the lash , and used flogging to punish even minor infractions. According to historian Robin Bernstein, Lynds also prevented inmates from communicating with their families as a part of the severe practice of isolation within the Auburn System. To maintain discipline through whipping, Lynds created

560-539: The cell door: typically, cornflour gruel in the morning, boiled vegetables with bits of gristle for lunch and a thin soup in the evening. Prisoners awoke at five in the morning and the lights were turned off at ten in the evening. During this time, they were not allowed to stay in bed, but had to stand or sit on a chair facing the cell door. Approaching the window, communicating with other prisoners or making noise were forbidden. Visits by personnel had to be in pairs, to prevent any discussion. Violations were punished by removing

595-654: The day in the form of work. Some of these included making " nails , barrels , clothing , shoes and boots , carpets , buttons , carpenters ' tools, steam engines and boilers , combs , harnesses, furniture, brooms , clocks , buckets and pails, saddle trees...". During the 1840s, the prison began to produce silk using silk worms and trees. The Auburn correctional facility was the first prison to profit from prisoner labor. To ensure silence and to compel prisoners to work, agent Lynds, at first hired to oversee construction and command workers, used several methods of violence and coercion. The prison had many sightseers in

630-502: The final prisoners still at Râmnicu Sărat were sent to Jilava and then elsewhere. The prison was shut down and used as a deposit until the Romanian Revolution . Vișinescu, the warden of the prison from 1956 to 1963, and previously a political officer at Jilava and Mislea prisons, was convicted of crimes against humanity for his treatment of detainees in 2015, and sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. The former prison

665-623: The help of Elam Lynds , agent and keeper of Auburn Prison, for its third state prison, Sing Sing Prison . Several other states followed suit shortly after and adopted the for-profit prison system designed in Auburn. By 1829, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. adopted the Auburn system. Within the next fifteen years, the system was used in prisons in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Upper Canada, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan. Among notable elements of

700-427: The lockstep as they performed it, 'stamping and gesticulating as if they were engaged in a game of romps.'" Lynds also instituted the notorious striped prison uniform in order to "break prisoners psychologically as well as physically." The clothing at the prison was a grayish material with horizontal stripes. During the intake process, each prisoner was stripped of their own clothing and belongings and forced to put on

735-406: The mattress and halving the rations for around ten days. Serious offenses, such as causing loud noises, were met with beatings and blows, especially by warden Alexandru Vișinescu  [ ro ] , whose favorite punishment was whipping. There was one political prisoner per each cell, kept under constant surveillance. Once or twice a week, individual prisoners were allowed a twenty-minute walk in

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770-477: The nascent communist regime joined the ranks. In 1948-1949, an effort at “ re-education ” involved lecturing prisoners about the achievements of the Petru Groza government and the benefits of “people’s democracy”, reading progressive brochures together and leaving Marxist books in their cells. Until 1952, it was a transit prison, holding detainees for several months until they were moved to other prisons or to

805-421: The open windows, which freely allowed cold air to enter. As detainees had to sleep facing the door, they would wake up with their heads covered in snow, in the event of a winter storm. Despite the prohibition, prisoners found ways to communicate, for example via a Morse Code during their walks: a single cough would represent a dot, a double, a dash. By such means, they were able to keep reasonably well informed about

840-585: The prison from 1947 to 1963, in the individual cells, while common criminals inhabited the large rooms. The two groups were kept completely separate and forbidden from communicating. From 1947 to 1952, the number of prisoners varied between 80 and 200, with common criminals forming the majority. The first political prisoners, who arrived in the second half of 1947, were “saboteurs”: peasants who were unable to hand over quotas of livestock and grain, as well as members of non-communist parties from Râmnicu Sărat County . Starting in 1949, opponents of collectivization and of

875-451: The prison uniform, sometimes new, but most often they were used and in poor shape. One African American prisoner who was incarcerated at Auburn Prison during the early nineteenth century, Austin Reed (author) , "called the outfit 'robes of disgrace.'" Reformers of the era, like Samuel Gridley Howe , also held disdain for the prison uniforms. Howe, an abolitionist and physician, went so far as

910-410: The prisoners' "sense of self" and prevent solidarity from forming between the prisoners as they were forced to labor. When the "sense of self" was taken away, many convicts obeyed the warden's wishes. Prisoners were not allowed to speak to one another while at work, in line, or while in their cells. The second characteristic of the Auburn system was community activities during regimented times during

945-490: The situation inside the walls. In late 1958, Mihalache, old and sick, entered into confrontation with the prison administration, refusing to leave his bed at five in the morning. Guards, often joined by the warden, would enter his cell, beat him viciously, throw him on the floor and remove the bed. From that point until his death in March 1963, his voice was heard daily, protesting against his treatment and lack of medical care. He

980-500: The violence that took place to keep prisoners silent and keep them at work, since officers always made sure that tourists were not around when inflicting punishments such as whippings. Elam Lynds, in association with John D. Cray, developed a revolutionary system of transporting convicts within the prison. The prisoners marched in unison, and locked their arms to the convict in front of them. The prisoners had to look to one side, and were not allowed to look at guards or other inmates. This

1015-1156: The women returned to a new building at the Auburn prison. The Auburn Women's Prison remained in operation until 1933, when a new maximum-security wing for female inmates opened at Bedford Hills . Alexandru Constant Look for Alexandru Constant on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Alexandru Constant in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

1050-406: The yard, head down and away from the windows. A doctor visited weekly; otherwise, an assistant was on hand to provide injections directly through the pants, or to push pills into the cell with his boot. More serious cases could be hospitalized, but this might be refused, or approved when the prisoner was already dead. Cold was a constant feature from September until May or June. The beds were kept near

1085-419: Was "the yoke". The yoke used iron bars around the neck and arms of the prisoners. In the early days of the prison, women inmates were held in the windowless attic atop the high security prison. They shared a single room and slept in the same area where they worked, primarily at "picking wool, knitting, and spooling." In 1838 all women prisoners were transferred to the then-new female wing at Sing Sing . In 1892

Râmnicu Sărat Prison - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-413: Was called the "lockstep," which prisoners were forced to march in between every task and movement from one end of the prison to the other. Incarcerated men, however, resisted such forms of control in numerous ways, including passing notes, whispering, and even using ventriloquism to communicate with one another. According to historian Robin Bernstein, "some prisoners, particularly African Americans, parodied

1155-517: Was obtained, he died in his cell in November. Deceased prisoners were buried secretly at night in mass graves at the edge of a cemetery. Prisoners deemed not sufficiently “re-educated” upon expiry of their sentences were forced to live in Rubla for one to five years. Coposu, Diaconescu and others were sent there in 1962, not allowed to leave the village, on pain of a fifteen-year sentence. In April 1963,

1190-584: Was permanently beaten by Vișinescu and an aide; sometimes, guards would enter in the middle of winter, throwing a bucket of water on him. Jenică Arnăutu, a soldier and PNȚ member who had fought against the Communist regime in Bukovina , entered a hunger strike in July 1959, in order to gain admittance to a hospital. He was force-fed through a hose. The administration finally agreed to his demand, but before approval

1225-446: Was prohibited, guards and keepers sought new ways to punish the disorderly. "The shower bath consisted of a barrel about 4½ feet high with a discharge tube at the bottom. The prisoner was stripped naked, bound hand and foot, with a wooden collar around his neck to prevent him moving his head. The barrel, with the inmate inside, was placed directly under an outlet pipe, where water, sometimes iced, would pour down." Another form of punishment

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